JACMEL, Haiti -- On a sunny day in November, Haitian-American hip-hop star Wyclef Jean visited this mountain-fringed seaside town for the first time. Descending from a plane at the tiny airport, he said in Creole to a crowd of Haitian journalists that he could already see the country was more beautiful than Jamaica.

Jean had long planned to give a large, free "concert for peace" in Port-au-Prince, but the level of violence in the capital made such an event impossible. He switched venues to Jacmel's town beach, where tens of thousands of fans gathered to hear him play in December without incident.

Most of Haiti " is not Port-au-Prince," Boucard said. "We should not be penalized by what happens [within] a tenth of the country."
Today, well-to-do Port-au-Prince residents visit Jacmel on weekends. They can stroll through the town, visit galleries, listen to live music, and eat grilled lobster and conch at nearby beaches. But few foreigners venture to Jacmel.
Boucard is looking for ways for tourists to visit Haiti without having to set foot in the capital. There are 15-minute flights from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel, but some visitors fear traveling on the half-mile strip of road that runs from the capital's international airport to its domestic airport -- never mind make the three-hour drive from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel, 25 miles to the south.

For the full article go <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2007/01/08/in_violence_racked_haiti_a_push_to_spur_tourism/">here.</a>